ronschreck
Well Known Member
I recently had an email discussion with my friend Kent Misegades regarding the use of mogas and E-10 in my Lycoming engine. Kent is a director of the
Aviation Fuel Club, an aerospace engineer, and aviation journalist for EAA and GA.
Kent put me in touch with Todd Peterson who has done extensive research on the use of mogas in aircraft and has issued over 34,000 STC's for autogas use. I thought the forum members could learn something from Todd's letter:
Ron & Kent:
No one has said that our engines won't run on E10, they'll run on it just fine. However there are problems with corrosion, increased possibility of vapor lock, phase separation, etc.
Go this link:
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...sg=AFQjCNGnGeP2w-SxLxnohUFAdyCzMHlHgg&cad=rja
If the link fails, go to Google, Advanced Search, then type in the phrase University of Aachen, and have EASA and Ethanol in the other fields and it'll give you a link to this report which was requested by EASA.
What I've found from the people I've spoken with, is that you might get away with using E10 if you keep the fuel fresh, and by that I mean never leave it in the airplane for more than a week without replenishing it, This seems to put a stop to materials compatibility issues. It does not eliminate the potential for corrosion of the fuel system and and engine nor does it do anything to eliminate the water absorption problem. Leaving it in for longer than that can ruin carburetors too. I've had a couple reports of that happening.
If your were to build an RV from the ground up with ethanol compatible components, then the only place you might see corrosion is of course still the engine, and then whatever metal is used in the fuel system. Doing that however would fix it as far as seals and gaskets are concerned. However if you read that EASA report you will see that the U of Aachen states that, depending on the alloys used in the engine, using E10 just once, will start corrosion within the engine and it never stops even if you never burn another drop of ethanol.
If you're flying in a humid environment it is possible for the ethanol in the tanks to draw sufficient moisture into the fuel to give a poor running engine by the end of the flight. There's no way I can think of to fix that problem that the FAA would accept.
You probably already know that range will be about 15% less on E10, which isn't a problem as long as you know it ahead of time.
I don't know what is in Lycomings fuel pumps but whatever it is is compatible with E0, but I wouldn't think it would take E10.
People tend to think it wouldn't be a big deal to see E10 approved but from my experience, I could spend 20 years and 20 million dollars and still not see it approved. Of course in an RV that doesn't matter but if I had one I'd never burn gas with ethanol in it.
I have to recommend against using gasoline with any amount of ethanol, whether the airplane is certificated or not and regardless of how often you fly, and hence regardless of how old the fuel is. It's a bad mixer. Feel free to let other RV owners read this if you wish.
Todd L. Petersen
Petersen Aviation, Inc.
984 K Road
Minden, NE 68959
308-832-2200
Aviation Fuel Club, an aerospace engineer, and aviation journalist for EAA and GA.
Kent put me in touch with Todd Peterson who has done extensive research on the use of mogas in aircraft and has issued over 34,000 STC's for autogas use. I thought the forum members could learn something from Todd's letter:
Ron & Kent:
No one has said that our engines won't run on E10, they'll run on it just fine. However there are problems with corrosion, increased possibility of vapor lock, phase separation, etc.
Go this link:
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...sg=AFQjCNGnGeP2w-SxLxnohUFAdyCzMHlHgg&cad=rja
If the link fails, go to Google, Advanced Search, then type in the phrase University of Aachen, and have EASA and Ethanol in the other fields and it'll give you a link to this report which was requested by EASA.
What I've found from the people I've spoken with, is that you might get away with using E10 if you keep the fuel fresh, and by that I mean never leave it in the airplane for more than a week without replenishing it, This seems to put a stop to materials compatibility issues. It does not eliminate the potential for corrosion of the fuel system and and engine nor does it do anything to eliminate the water absorption problem. Leaving it in for longer than that can ruin carburetors too. I've had a couple reports of that happening.
If your were to build an RV from the ground up with ethanol compatible components, then the only place you might see corrosion is of course still the engine, and then whatever metal is used in the fuel system. Doing that however would fix it as far as seals and gaskets are concerned. However if you read that EASA report you will see that the U of Aachen states that, depending on the alloys used in the engine, using E10 just once, will start corrosion within the engine and it never stops even if you never burn another drop of ethanol.
If you're flying in a humid environment it is possible for the ethanol in the tanks to draw sufficient moisture into the fuel to give a poor running engine by the end of the flight. There's no way I can think of to fix that problem that the FAA would accept.
You probably already know that range will be about 15% less on E10, which isn't a problem as long as you know it ahead of time.
I don't know what is in Lycomings fuel pumps but whatever it is is compatible with E0, but I wouldn't think it would take E10.
People tend to think it wouldn't be a big deal to see E10 approved but from my experience, I could spend 20 years and 20 million dollars and still not see it approved. Of course in an RV that doesn't matter but if I had one I'd never burn gas with ethanol in it.
I have to recommend against using gasoline with any amount of ethanol, whether the airplane is certificated or not and regardless of how often you fly, and hence regardless of how old the fuel is. It's a bad mixer. Feel free to let other RV owners read this if you wish.
Todd L. Petersen
Petersen Aviation, Inc.
984 K Road
Minden, NE 68959
308-832-2200
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